Wednesday November 10, 2021
Olympia ticket is one thing …
Ice hockey women play for their own future
Captain Julia Zorn plays about her dream of another Olympic participation. Qualifying for the winter games in Beijing next year is also about the future of German women’s ice hockey. The 31-year-old wants to fight for this in particular.
Julia Zorn has already played ice hockey at the Olympics – and experienced this special feeling. “Anyone who can say that my lifelong dream has come true knows what I’m talking about,” said the captain of the women’s national team in an interview with the sports information service: “You know how much work, passion and above all else There is renunciation in it. If such a calculation works out, it is very redeeming. “
That was in Sochi in 2014. Now the 31-year-old is reaching for a ticket to the Winter Games again. “It’s my last chance to go to the Olympics again,” says the nine-time World Cup participant. For most of the others, the qualification tournament from Thursday in Füssen is the very first. Next to defender Tanja Eisenschmid, attacker Zorn is the only one on the German team with Olympic experience. Goalkeeper Jennifer Harß, who was there in 2006, is absent due to a corona infection.
Hard fight “for the girls”
Zorn and Co. play against Austria on Thursday (5.15 p.m.), against Italy on Saturday (12 p.m.) and against Denmark on Sunday (12 p.m. all at MagentaSport) not only for their Olympic dream, but also for the future of their sport. “Funding and armed forces places of course depend on it,” says Zorn: “That means that the tournament more or less decides the future of women’s ice hockey. All the girls who come after us should also have the chance to advance the sport. “
The 231-time national player and eight-time German champion is one of 16 currently part of the Bundeswehr’s sports promotion group. She can train “like a professional”, twice a day, mainly at her club ESC Planegg, but also every two weeks at the federal performance center in Füssen with national trainer Thomas Schädler.
Anger plays along with men
This benefits the national team, which sensationally stormed into the World Cup semi-finals after being promoted again in 2017 and reached the round of the last eight in 2019 and 2021. But it also helps to raise the level of the Bundesliga. It is therefore a real alternative to guest appearances in the USA or Canada for the top players. Zorn turned down US offers because of the Bundeswehr base: “I earn more money here, have better medical coverage and have more options.”
She is now the record scorer in the Bundesliga with 260 goals in 258 games – and has also played with the men for a few weeks. At BSV Bayersoien in the district league. With completely new challenges. The game is faster, she says, but she is “at the forefront” when it comes to fitness. In addition, she has to rethink: “One or the other is not quite so sure about the skates. If I’m the first on the gang, and he stumbles, I draw the worse card. You have to be clever and not the ones who are First jump head first into the gang. “